Page 86 of Drawn Together

I stared him down, shooting daggers from my eyes. He walked over and tried to touch me, but I pushed him away.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?”

Sebastian looked sad and full of regret, guilt painted all over his handsome face. “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to pull me toward him, but I reared back.

Sebastian had exited the highway, where the cars zoomed past in the distance, the Manhattan skyline visible on the horizon.Where the hell were we? Had we gone that far from the city?

“Don’t get any closer to me, Sebastian,” I said when he tried once again to close the distance between us.

He stopped and looked at me, sorrowful, his perfect face lined with concern. “I don’t know what came over me… I’m sorry, truly,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Who is Samara?” I asked in a voice cold as snow.

Sebastian lowered his hand and looked at me, clenching his jaw. “No one you need to concern yourself with.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “She just told me that you’re going to ruin my life. Who the hell is she to you?” Seeing him with her had upset me, had affected me more than I could understand, and I needed the truth.

“Marfil… please,” he practically begged. What did he expect? For me not to ask about her? “You should’ve never met her. You should’ve never seen that.”

“I just want to know who she is—if she’s some nutjob who doesn’t even know you, if she’s your little sister or your fucking lover, Sebastian. I just want to know who she is.”

He stood in stubborn silence for a moment, until he finally chose to answer me. “I’ll tell you. Then we’ll get back in the car and go home. After that, we won’t talk about it again. Ever.”

What?

“Promise me.” He seemed totally serious.

“Okay,” I agreed, although inside, I knew it was a promise I couldn’t keep.

Sebastian took a deep breath and then looked me in the eye. “She’s my ex-wife.”

CHAPTER 24MARFIL

Sebastian had been married?

You can imagine my reaction. I took a few seconds to process, then I walked past him and got back in the car. I felt angry and betrayed, even though Sebastian and I were nothing. In my heart, however, Sebastian was all mine, it was that simple. I couldn’t conceive the fact he’d ever belonged to someone else, that he had once vowed to spend the rest of his life with a woman whom he thought was the love of his life. Although, given her attitude toward him, maybe she’d been the one to end things; maybe it was Sebastian who was still hopelessly in love with that pretty blonde.

This drama was honestly the last thing I needed right now. I tried to rewind back to that moment of closeness we’d had at the hamburger place, his lips brushing my skin, his eyes promising something more. But it was all eclipsed by a fact I’d been trying to deny since the moment I met him: Sebastian, whether I liked it or not, had a personal life outside of his job protecting me.

He seemed relieved that I was making good on my promise not to ask any questions. For the first time since we’d met, I did what he wanted me to do: I kept quiet. I only broke the silence as we entered the city, and I realized that, after everything that had happened—at my father’s house, with him, with Marcus, with his ex-wife—I didn’t want to be around him. I needed space.

“Take me to Liam’s, please,” I said without looking at him.

He turned to stare at me for a few seconds before fixing his gaze back on the road. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I have a key to his apartment, just like he had a key to mine before you took it away from him. He’s my best friend, and I need to see him. I need… I’m sorry, but right now I need some space from you.” Danger be damned.

“Marfil, you can’t be aw—”

“I won’t leave his apartment,” I interrupted.

Sebastian pressed his fingers to his temples and threw me a defiant, calculated glance. His eyes rested for a few seconds longer than necessary on me, and then, sighing, he looked back at the cars ahead of him. “Give me the address.”

I told him, then immediately sent Liam a message letting him know I was on my way to his apartment and that I needed to spend the night. I had no idea whether he was alone, or if he was already asleep for the night, but I knew he would welcome me with open arms, and that was all I needed.

When we got to Liam’s building in the Financial District, a few blocks from Wall Street, Sebastian got out of the car and came to meet me as I stepped onto the curb. I looked at him and once again heard the woman’s words of warning echoing through my head.He’s dangerous. Was he? It was clear that he could be, but not with me, even after tonight… Sebastian was the one who protected me from the bad guys… wasn’t he?

I was about to cross the street, but he held my arm. For a second, I thought he might open up to me, explain what had happened with his ex and that she was nothing to him now, confess that, against all his attempts to deny it, he felt the same way about me that I did about him.